This invention relates to a shield which prevents grass expelled from the front of a mower from blowing rearwardly onto an operator.
Conventional rotating blade lawn mowers have motor driven blades encased in a deck or blade housing having a generally flat horizontal top surface and a substantially continuous vertical side wall which extends downwardly from the perimeter of the top surface. The blades typically are driven by a motor mounted above the deck directly through an output shaft extending from the motor or through a series of belts and pulleys which connect the output shaft to one or more shafts which mount one or more blades. Typically, the deck is supported on a wheeled frame structure such that the bottom edge of the side wall is spaced some distance above the grass during the mowing operation. The gap created by the space is necessary to prevent wet grass from accumulating in the blade space beneath the deck and to prevent the edge of the deck from catching or hitting obstacles such as tree roots, stumps, etc. During operation of the mower, grass typically is expelled outwardly through the gap between the bottom perimeter edge of the deck and the lawn.
In a motor driven rotating blade lawn mower which an operator walks behind, the motor ordinarily rests on top of the deck. Thus, it forms a barrier from grass which is expelled from the front of the mower and would tend to blow back over an operator as the operator moves the mower forwardly. In riding lawn mowers of the tractor type in which the drive motor projects in front of the operator and the operator sits above the blade deck the chassis and frame of the tractor prevent grass expelled from the bottom perimeter edge of the deck from blowing onto an operator.
In an effort to obtain greater mobility for lawn mowers which carry an operator, some manufacturers have abandoned the traditional front engine configuration in favor of a rear drive rear steering mower. In a rear drive mower, a deck or blade housing projects forwardly from the power and drive mechanism of the machine. A seat for the operator is mounted on the tractor in front of the engine and above the blade housing such that the operator's feet rest on the deck during operation of the vehicle. With this configuration, the operator has excellent visibility with respect to the front of the mower deck. Additionally, the rear steering feature provides improved maneuverability of the vehicle when compared with a vehicle having front steering wheels.
Although a rear drive vehicle provides many advantages over a front engine driven vehicle, it does suffer from one important disadvantage. Because the operator sits in front of the engine above the blade housing, grass which is expelled from beneath the portion of the gap beneath the bottom perimeter edge of the deck sidewall, blows rearwardly during the mowing operation and covers an operator's feet and legs. That is, the structure of such mowers which improves operator visibility and maneuverability, permitting the space between the operator and leading edge of the deck to be generally unobstructed, allows the grass expelled from the gap beneath the deck to make the operating environment uncomfortable.
Consequently, the need exists for a device which will prevent grass clippings which are expelled from the gap at the bottom of the front portion of a vehicle wall of a mower blade housing from blowing back on an operator of a rear engine driven mower, so that the advantages of rear engine drive designs may be achieved with operator comfort.